It took several appointments for us to have the opportunity to go with some Red Dao people from Phin Ngan commune to the forest to find medicinal plants. Before entering the forest, Ms. Tan Su May, Head of Sai Duan village, Phin Ngan commune, had prepared a basket containing medicinal plants, a machete and some rope. In addition, the basket also contained a bottle of water, a handful of rice, and some fish sauce and salt for lunch in the forest.

To pick medicinal leaves, the Red Dao people in Phin Ngan commune have to go deep into the forests.

From Sai Duan village, a few young men and a group of Dao women started their motorbikes and got ready to go. We were given priority to sit on the “iron horse”, a Win military motorbike, going uphill along the concrete road to the head of the village. After passing the main road of the village, the motorbike turned onto a small road only about 1.5 m wide, although it was concreted but it was steep and had many sharp “hairpin bends”. I sat behind the motorbike and sometimes I got “goosebumps”.

Looking at the Dao women driving alone up the mountain, everyone admired their driving skills. After passing several slopes halfway up the mountain, the motorbike had to stop because there was no more... concrete road. From here, we walked and climbed the slope to begin our journey to find medicinal plants. Although I was used to climbing mountains and had conquered several high peaks, due to my complacency and lack of prior training, after climbing the slope for about half an hour, my back was drenched in sweat, my eyes were dizzy, my throat was parched, my legs were so tired that I didn't want to continue. On the canopy of ancient trees, the cicadas chirped incessantly like an orchestra, echoing throughout the forest.

In the community forests of Phin Ngan commune people, there are many precious medicinal plants.

The higher we went, the steeper the road became, making us exhausted. After the ancient forest, we reached the bamboo forest near the top of the mountain. Here, there was a tree that was in season and laden with fruit, but strangely, the fruit grew from the trunk and branches, like a woody vine. Mr. Chao A Khuân, the head of the Security and Order Protection Team of Sai Duẩn village, put a bunch of purple-red fruits in my hand and said that these were ground mulberries, to eat to relieve fatigue. The young ground mulberries were very crunchy, and tasted sour like star fruit, helping me relieve fatigue. When the fruit was ripe, the skin would be red, the inside would be juicy, fragrant, and sweet.

While we were sitting under the mulberry tree, Ms. Tan Su May and some others picked a handful of vines that looked like gac fruit and wild betel leaves. According to the Dao people here, there are many valuable medicinal plants in this forest that can be combined to cure many diseases. For example, wild betel leaves can cure bone and joint diseases; the root of the Polygonum multiflorum helps calm the nerves, cure insomnia, and premature graying of hair; the root of the Curculigo orchioides (Smilax glabra ) helps clear heat, cool the liver, detoxify, enrich the blood, eliminate rheumatism, and is good for tendons and bones... Because it is a secret medicine, the Dao doctors only pass it on to a few people in the family, and cannot tell the exact name of each medicinal plant and the formula for combining the ingredients together.

Ms. Tan Su May, Head of Sai Duan Village, Phin Ngan Commune, said: The ecological and tourist forest of the community has many precious medicinal plants. We also have service teams that go into the forest to collect medicinal plants to serve tourists. This is a source of precious, clean medicine, creating a stable income for the villagers.

In their treasure trove of indigenous knowledge, the Red Dao have many valuable remedies that can cure skin inflammation, acne, gastritis, hepatitis, back pain, abdominal pain, insomnia, trauma treatment, and even paralysis... The most common is the bath remedy for women after giving birth, helping them to quickly recover their health; the usual bath and foot soak remedies help relax the body and regulate blood circulation...

The Red Dao people of Phin Ngan commune only pick the tops, not the roots, to preserve precious medicinal plants.

The Red Dao people's treatment methods are also diverse. Some remedies only require chopping up medicinal plants, drying them, and using them to make a decoction to drink every day; some require pounding them, roasting them, and applying them to the injured area or placing them under a mat for the patient to lie on. Some remedies also require boiling them for bathing, washing hair, and cleaning wounds. Each remedy is a combination of many precious medicinal herbs taken from the forest.

The Red Dao people in Phin Ngan cook medicinal leaves for tourists to bathe in.

Currently, in Phin Ngan commune, there are Red Dao doctors who still maintain the traditional herbal medicine profession, helping to treat illnesses for villagers, hamlets and patients in many places. Typical examples include Mrs. Chao Coi May, Chao Kho May (Sai Duan village); Mrs. Chao Kieu May (Van Ho village); Mrs. Tan Su May (Trung Chai village); Mr. Vang Chan Vang (Lao Vang village); Mrs. Vang Kho May (Lao Sang village); Mrs. Tan Man May (Trung Ho village);...

Ms. Phan Lo May, Sai Duan village, Phin Ngan commune said: People in the village are very conscious of preserving precious medicinal plants in the forest. They usually only pick medicinal leaves twice a month. When harvesting, they only pick the tops and leaves, not uprooting the whole plant or digging up the roots so that the plant can continue to grow.

It is known that the Red Dao people in Phin Ngan also have taboos when picking medicinal leaves such as only picking medicinal leaves on odd days of the month, some herbs are only picked in the early morning or late afternoon when there is no sunlight, so that they can take effect...

Close-up of a precious medicinal plant in the forest in Phin Ngan commune.

After nearly a day of traveling through the forests on Sai Duan Mountain, the products that the Red Dao women's group collected were a whole basket of medicinal leaves with all kinds of common and rare herbs to bring back to classify and combine into medicines and bath medicines for those in need. In particular, at the Sai Duan Village Community Tourism House, there is a medicinal bath model serving guests that has been maintained for many years. Domestic and international tourists coming here, after a journey to explore the forests, experience growing cinnamon, weeding cinnamon, transplanting rice... with the locals, will be able to soak in a bath medicine barrel made from 7 types of herbs, helping to relax the body and restore health. In the evening, they will enjoy dishes made from wild vegetables and herbs, rich in the flavor of the mountains and forests.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phin Ngan Commune, Bat Xat District, said: In the existing forest area of Sai Duan village, there are many rare medicinal herbs. In recent years, people have taken full advantage of the advantages to develop eco-tourism, serving tourists with herbal baths.

A type of wild fruit picked by the Red Dao people of Phin Ngan commune for medicine and food.

Tourists experience eco-tourism in Phin Ngan commune.

One day following the Red Dao people into the forest to find medicinal plants, we understood the hard but meaningful work, which is also the livelihood of the people here. The Red Dao people in Phin Ngan are always conscious of protecting and preserving precious medicinal plants in the forest for sustainable exploitation and use, and passing on valuable medicinal recipes to their children and grandchildren in the family and clan so that they are not lost. The "treasure" of medicinal plants in the old forest is the source of precious medicinal plants to treat the people, the raw materials for Red Dao doctors to prepare valuable medicines to take care of the community's health.

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